I’ve been confined to my driveway unless Jackson happened to be available to go with me when practicing on my jumping stilts. The impediment was my inability to get back up if I happened to fall. So long as something about waste high was available for me to lean on I was OK, but that usually isn’t the case. So today I was determined to do what it took to learn how to get up on them without any assistance whatsoever. With that accomplished I could move on to far more exciting uses for the stilts.

I watched several videos on YouTube, but as usual, most were less than helpful. Then I found Balthezar Arith’s video and within 5 minutes I was up and running.

It seems like there is no common name for these contraptions. Some call them “Boks” because they look like the legs of a Springbok, but the most common name I’ve found on the Internet is “jumping stilts” and after trying them for the 1st time, it’s also the most sensible name for them. I’ve seen them sporadically from afar over the past couple of years and always wanted to try them, but it never seemed to happen. The Learning Resolution provides the perfect opportunity for me to pull the trigger and truth is, that’s kind of the point in it, to get me off my ass and do some of the things I’ve often wanted to do, but never did.

Once my Powerizers arrived in the mail, I had to run out and get wrist guards, elbow and knee pads before getting up on them. I ran to the closest sporting goods store (we don’t have the big chain stores in Santa Barbara) and picked up a set of pads for $19.99. I wore them for the first outing but had zero confidence that they would help in any way should I need them. That’s why, as you’ll see in the video, I refused to make an attempt on them without holding onto either a car or my son. The next day I drove to Sports Authority in Goleta for a proper set of pads and look forward to giving it a real go this afternoon.